“It nearly gave me a heart attack!”
Diane Farrell had gardening on her mind. A planter pot, some flowers, a quiet afternoon in her Connecticut backyard. Simple enough.
Then the dirt started moving.
An unexpected tenant
Something had knocked over the decorative rabbit statue beside the planter. The soil inside looked disturbed. Farrell leaned in to smooth it out — and then froze.
“All of a sudden, I saw the dirt start moving,” she said. “It nearly gave me a heart attack.”
A nose appeared. Then another.
A mother rabbit had quietly chosen Farrell’s planter as the perfect place to raise her family. Tucked beneath the soil, hidden and warm, a litter of tiny baby bunnies had been there all along.
The flowers could wait.
Best seat in the house
Farrell made the obvious decision: the planter was theirs now. She stepped back, let the little family be, and watched what unfolded next from the best possible vantage point — her own back windows.
“We were all totally obsessed with them,” she said. “We were watching every day, like a TV show.”
Day by day, the babies grew. The mother tended to them. And the Farrell household became quiet, devoted fans of the tiny drama playing out in the garden.
Venturing into the world
After about a week, the bunnies began to emerge — cautiously at first, then with growing confidence — to explore the yard. Sometimes, when Farrell was out working in the garden, they’d wander over to investigate, curiosity apparently winning out over shyness.
They have nibbled some of her plants. She doesn’t mind in the least.
Always welcome back
The little ones are bigger now, bolder, spotted occasionally around the neighborhood as they make their way in the world. But they still visit. And Farrell still watches for them.
“I love them,” she said.
She went out to plant flowers and came back with a family. Not a bad afternoon’s work.